Shang-High is a relatively unheard-of rapper who I found on Spotify. He currently has 49 tracks released, the most recent mixtape being “No Reason,” and 824 followers. Shang-High specializes in “chill rap,” so to speak. In most of his music, he uses laid back instrumentals with a calming flow of vocals over them.

It all started during his senior year of high school when his mom bought him a MacBook Pro. He ended up using GarageBand to write and produce raps himself. He met a kid named Mike Mynahan, who he became close with. Shang-High used Mike’s microphone, which Mike ended up giving him. “My desire to rap started when I was in high school always being on music blogs looking for cool new music to listen to. When I would go through tracks I would hear a variety of songs and I would critique them to decide if it was something I liked or not and when I did that, I realized if I thought this person’s music could be better, and it’s on a music blog, why don’t I try doing something like that and ended up enjoying the challenge of writing something I thought was cool and then creating it.” (Shang-High)

His inspiration for tracks comes from artists he knows personally, the supportive friends he’s had since he started, and “various artists that made me realize how good music could be.” (Shang-High)

One of his most popular songs, Sunset Lake, has 34.7K plays on Soundcloud. Most of his music speaks about relaxing with friends, doing things on your own time, or “marching to the beat of your own drum.” The style of music that he produces is perfect for driving in the countryside on a warm day at sunset. Some of my personal favorites of his are Cloud Nine, Cherry Bomb and Moment of Good, which really embrace the style of “chill rap.” He also steps out of that style in a few songs like Fun Track and Woah, which really show off the talent that Shang-High possesses, the beautiful flow he has with words, and his unique voice and style.

If you ever need some perfect music for driving during sunset, hanging out with your friends, or a day out on the water, I urge you to check out his music.